Replace Hitachi 78 with another revision?

I have a Hitachi rev78 drive that is not reading disc / making scratching noises like crazy so I want to replace the drive. I have already saved the key with jungleflasher

My problem is I am unable to find rev78 drives from anyone I would trust to buy from online for a reasonable price. Everywhere I found wants ~$35+ for rev78 drive but I am finding rev79 and 59 for ~$21

I do not care about Live but do plan to mod the drive to play backups. My question is can I replace my 78 with another revision? From what I have read I should be able to use any revision if I swap the PCB but I would like to just flash my key to the new drive that way I have 2 "working" drives. I believe only the 78/79 are interchangeable in this way, is that correct?

So my plan is to buy a rev79 drive and flash the old key to it. Also flash a modded firmware which I have not chosen yet to allow backup games to be played. Thoughts?

You can replace a Hitachi 78 with a Hitachi 79 and vice versa as the hardware is the same(swap pcb's)or crossflash.For the HITACHI this is the only drive you can do it with.The firmware is different though and no spoofing drives just the key/crossflash.Because of AP 2.5 security checks and been stuck on the update loop.So best bet is just remove the pcb and buy a available revision and swap out the PCB'S,write your 78 LT 3.0 firmware to it and your good to go.

you can buy any hitachi drive just use the 78 board on it, there is no difference in the drive itself! i would rather have the 78 board than a 79, you need the unlock cd to write to it! a lot of unnecessary hassle!